A relative in the Caribbean asked me to send them some tomato seeds. Normally, I could find them in Big Lots and Walmart for $0.10 a pack but it is currently out of season.
Looking for a mail order web site that has similar pricing and low shipping prices.
the clearance rack at the hardward store?
How about fresh ripe tomatoes???
Remove, rinse and dry your own.
They do quite well.
(1) If you plant tomatoes yourself, you can save the leftover seeds for several years, so you should have a ready supply to share. I have had 10 year old tomato seeds sprout with better than 50% germination.
(2) Tomato seeds are easy to extract from tomatoes. Take out the seeds and place in water for a few days. They will ferment a bit. Scrape off the gunk and spread the seeds on a piece of paper to dry. You can eat the tomato that's left over from this operation. The only disadvantage to this is that if you start with a hybrid tomato, you may not get the same thing when you grow the plant from the seeds (although it will most likely be similar, and almost certainly edible).
(3) Buying cheap seeds is counterproductive. They're cheap for a reason. Ten cent packages probably have lower germination rates than fresh seeds, although tomatoes have less of this problem than other vegetables. Also, the postage to send the seeds to the caribbean will far exceed the cost of cheap seeds, so you can afford to spend a bit more on the seeds. You can share a packet of fresh seeds.
(4) If your relative wants only a couple of tomato plants, a cheap seed packet would probably work, but when planting any vegetable it's best to select the seeds on the basis of the resulting fruit, not the price of the packet. If your relative wants a lot of plants it would be better to start with fresh seed to ensure better productivity.
Cindi, I suggest you check out this site and see if they have tropically suited tomato seeds. Otherwise search net for heirloom seeds. Cheap is just that. Your friend won't appreciate getting crap. JMHO.
My relative was thinking about planting several acres of tomatoes and therefore didn't want to spend a lot on seeds and was seeking the cheapest source possible. Ideally if I could locate 50 or so of those $0.10 packs normally sold in Walmart during the summer and put them into one container for him and mailed, it would be incredibly cheap.
I understand that cheap seeds have lower germination rates. This is ok. The idea was to take part of the seeds and plant on unused land and use the profits for charitable purposes. Planting tomatoes would also create temporary jobs that are sorely needed.
Cindi:
Did you seee this from SeedFreak?
Try Lonniesbulkseeds.com they have large seed packs for only a buck! and free shipping. Seed quality matters, meaning when the seeds were harvested (at peak or prior or before peak ripeness) and how they are stored. Seeds will lose germination if left in moist or fluctuating temps/environments. Seeds will also lose germination over time of course how much germination they lose again depens on how they were stored. Unless a seed is very rare I just can't spend $2.50+ on a pack of 150 seeds from a big name catalog. If only i were that rich....
Looks like flowers only, sorry!
John!
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